NBA Week 16 – SirmacTV.com

Man, these weeks come and go quickly don’t they?

At least we had some solid ball to get us through…

The first few nights of games after the all-star break weren’t much to write home about, but things kicked into gear as the week progressed.

Thursday night saw Utah take down the Celts by 5 which once again makes you think that they could be contenders. They just beat the Lakers a couple weeks back and with The Paperboy Paul Millsap playing like a beast and Carlos Boozer expecting to return by next week, things are only looking up. Mix that with Deron Williams’ play of late (avg. 27 and 11 over his last 7) and the emergence of Ronnie Brewer at the 2-spot (17 ppg over his last 14) and I think they could give the Lakers a run if Bynum doesn’t recover as scheduled. The Jazz also took down New Orleans on Saturday night which saw Williams going toe-to-toe with Chris Paul which is never a disappoinment. Both of these cats have nasty handles and wet jumpers but Williams got the best of CP3 posting up 20 and 13 in a Jazz win (CP3 put up 24 and 7). In all fairness, N.O was coming off a tough OT loss to the Lakers the night before where Mamba put up 39 chips and ripped out N.O’s heart in the extra frame.

The same night of the Lakers/Hornets thriller, ‘Bron was up to his antics again and hung 55 on the helpless Bucks. Normally when he puts up big numbers, it involves a lot of dunks and trips to the charity stripe but in this game he was lighting up the Bucks from beyond the arc. WELL beyond the arc. Richard Jefferson must have sore retina’s cuz ‘Bron was knockin’ shit down in his eye all night...but don’t take my word for it, check the clip…

So the trade deadline came and went with nothing significant really going down but there were certainly a couple teams extremely active. The most active of the bunch had to be the Chicago Bulls who shipped out 6 players and brought in 5 new faces for their playoff push. The most notable names joining the Bulls are John Salmons and Brad Miller (from Sac-Town) and Tim Thomas (from the Knicks) who brings some solid veteran leadership on a relatively young Bulls squad.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve kept saying I was gonna drop a little piece about the challenges that Jerry Colangelo faces as the Raps GM…but since I simply don’t have the time, here’s the jist of it; The moves he makes over the summer (as well as next year) will ultimately define him as a GM. When Bosh re-signed with the Raps a little while back, things were on the upswing and the Raps were progressing towards becoming a legit threat coming out of the East. However, with the Raps season turning a little sour this year, rumours have already started that Bosh is going to jet town. Colangelo has already committed to making Bosh the franchise player and to me, when shit goes bad, that means that you don’t move him, but you move the pieces around him. It’s the exact same thing that Kevin McHale went through in Minnesota with KG and that Mitch Kupchak faced in LA with Kobe. For years, McHale unsuccessfully tried finding the right pieces to fit with KG (bringing in Steph, Terrell Brandon, Sam I Am, Sprewell etc.) but things never panned out and KG eventually went to Boston after 12 years of no real success. On the flipside, you have Mitch Kupchak who was forced to turn the Lakers back into a contender after Mamba threatened to bounce town. With a little bit of patience and the right moves here and there, Kupchak now looks like a genius as the Lakers are arguably the best team in the Association and Kobe is happily content. In the end, the moves Colangelo makes over the next year and half will ultimately strengthen his position as one of the top GM’s in the game, or mark him as a GM who just couldn’t get it done. Time will tell…

Now speaking of Kupchak, Kobe and the Lakers, you have to give them credit for sticking with their young guys and believing in the guys already on the roster. Although Kupchak has made some key trades (bringing in Gasol and Ariza), a lot of their success has to do with Kupchak’s patience in developing guys like Bynum, Vujacic, Farmar, and Walton, all of whom make valuable contributions. Another guy the Lakers believed in was Lamar Odom who has been in trade talks since he came into the damn league. Odom is currently balling out of control putting up 18 chips and pulling in 16 boards a game over his last 6. 16 boards a game!!! Equally impressive is the fact he’s shooting 52% from the field over that same stretch and doesn’t need a lot of shots to be effective.

Now for some quick notes:

Winners of the week: Utah and Houston, both 4-0
Losers of the week: Detroit (0-3) and New Jersey (0-4)

Clips of the week:

Why’d you even jump, Bonner…


KD picking up where he left off on All-Star weekend…


D-Wade…what more can you say?


I’m out like Jefferson’s vision…

-Gliz